Compras Nikon Bluetooth |
The book is well written and concise. If you use google alot or need specialized info on google I would recommend this book.
It may be that all this information is available for free at various sites on the internet. That does not detract from the value of having valuable information at your fingertips when you need it. Each hack in the book can be located and read in minutes, saving hours of "free" search time. That alone makes the book's price a bargain.
Overall a must read and a great publication from O'Reilly. if you need more details or personally comments about this book, feel free to email me or IM me. My contact info is available at http://www.nakulgoyal.com
Yet, it still puzzles me why this info was necessary in a book form, particularly given the most likely intended audience. Most or even ALL of this info is available either on Google itself, especially on "Google Labs", or on frequently read websites such as Slashdot or Kuro5hin.
Recommended if you want to skip some on-computer reading, but I am still waiting to find tricks here that I haven't found elsewhere on the net for a whopping $0.00.
The bulk of the book deals with the API, and writing applications with it, or integrating it into your exisiting web pages. The next 40 pages or so get you started and are at a level that almost any web developer can understand and apply.
After that, the book hits the API pretty hard, and you are going to need a Google Developer key, and some knowledge or Perl or other scripting language to really make use of it. Even if you dont regularly use Perl, if you know any script at all you can follow along, and it is actually very interesting.
If you are looking for a end-to end Google user's guide, you will find some of that here, but web developers will benefit most.
You can search around Google's Web site to learn lesser known tips and tricks, but you won't find most of the hacks on the Internet without, ironically, hard searching. As a fervent reader, too often I read well-written books and never take the time to apply the tools and techniques. While reading this one, I immediately put the newfound knowledge to use with cool results and still use it though it's been a few weeks since I opened the book.
You may be aware Google offers Google News, which searches and provides the latest news (http://news.google.com/). But did you know Google News supports two syntaxes? They are "intitle" and "site." "Intitle" searches for keywords within the headline or new item's title while "site" looks for the keyword in a specific site. The authors are straightforward when they mention Google News is not one of the best places for news.
Non-techies, don't let the fact that O'Reilly and Associates is the publisher scare you away because the company's books are often synonymous with high tech topics and the name "hacks" in its title. It doesn't mean "bad" as a hack is also known as a trick or add-on for adding more power to a program or system. The tech-speak is kept to a minimum, which makes the hacks easy to read and reference. The book has tips for beginners, moderate users, and experts and each hack is represented by thermometer's temperature (high for expert and low for easy) for easy reference.
Techies and programmers have nothing to fear as the book covers APIs (Application Programming Interface), which provide a basic building block for building software applications. In other words, Google Web APIs (http://www.google.com/apis/api_faq.html) allow developers to query Google's search tool for use in developing software that accesses the many Web sites through Google. For example, a Web site providing the latest news on books and the book industry could use the Google API to regularly update the site with any new news relating to books. APIs for PHP, Python, ASP, C#, .NET, VB, and Java are included.
Try out some of the hacks and get tips from other readers from the O'Reilly's Hacks Web site (http://hacks.oreilly.com/pub/ht/2) and Tara Calishain's ResearchBuzz buzztoolbox (http://www.buzztoolbox.com/google/). Reduce the time you spend sifting through garbage by hacking your way with Google using this book.
If you are looking for ideas on what can be done with the Google API, or how to use the applications that others have written, then this book might be for you. However, if you are looking for tips and things to tinker with - hacks, regarding the search engine, do not bother with this book.
"Google Hacks" is really for the programmer looking to integrate Google into other web apps. While a good deal of information on the Google API can be found at Google, along with the downloadable developer's kit, this book provides a number of excellent examples of scripts in various languages. It's not a tutorial, but rather a compilation of shorts hacks and scripts that use Perl (of course), XML, Python, Java, C# and probably others I'm forgetting to add Google functionality to applications.
This isn't a book for the complete novice at scripting, but beginners shouldn't be put off by it. If you have a basic understanding of Perl and HTTP there's a good deal of useful information to be gleaned here.
"Google Hacks" is really for the programmer looking to integrate Google into other web apps. While a good deal of information on the Google API can be found at Google, along with the downloadable developer's kit, this book provides a number of excellent examples of scripts in various languages. It's not a tutorial, but rather a compilation of shorts hacks and scripts that use Perl (of course), XML, Python, Java, C# and probably others I'm forgetting to add Google functionality to applications.
This isn't a book for the complete novice at scripting, but beginners shouldn't be put off by it. If you have a basic understanding of Perl and HTTP there's a good deal of usefulk information to be gleaned here.
"Google Hacks" is really for the programmer looking to integrate Google into other web apps. While a good deal of information on the Google API can be found at Google, along with the downloadable developer's kit, this book provides a number of excellent examples of scripts in various languages. It's not a tutorial, but rather a compilation of shorts hacks and scripts that use Perl (of course), XML, Python, Java, C# and probably others I'm forgetting to add Google functionality to applications.
This isn't a book for the complete novice at scripting, but beginner's should be put off by it. If you have a basic understanding of Perl and HTTP there's a good deal of usefulk information to be gleaned here.
I do a LOT of research on the Internet and this book has been extremely useful in narrowing my searches so that I sift through "less junk". The countless hours this book has saved me has paid for it many times over.
I haven't done any Google API programming, so I don't have any opinion on that part of the book (which is the majority of the book).
So much of my work is done via internet search engines and of course my engine of choice is Google. Google never lets me down, always providing me the answer with minimal clicks. If any of your work relies on finding information via the Google search engine then this book should be part of your arsenal. There are a lot of functions provided Google that I never knew about.
The first 70 pages of the book are dedicated to performing actual searches and what can be done to tweak them. Chapter 2 goes more into the other services that Google provides. The authors have done a great job providing an overview of the more advanced features this search engine gives you.
Chapters 4, 5 and 6 deal with API applications that use internal Google functions or use other programming languages to maneuver those functions such as PHP, Java, Python, C# and VB.net. Chapter 7 is a great chapter dealing with pranks and games.
Overall, if you can't already tell, I really like this book and can't think of anything that I don't like. Even if you aren't in the IT arena this book is an easy reading and informative addition to your bookshelf.
The great strength of "Google Hacks" is that it has something for everyone. The first few chapters are perfect for those who have no knowledge of programming. The bulk of the book is appropriate for those who have at least some programming experience and are interested in accessing Google programatically. There are many examples scattered throughout that will be of interest to webmasters who want something cool for their website. The final chapter, "The Webmaster Side of Google", is devoted to managing your web site's lineament on Google.
Particularly appealing is the fact that, although most of the programmatic hacks are in Perl, there are examples in no fewer than nine languages. Html, java, php, python, C#, .NET, VB, asp, and possibly other languages, are represented.
Many of the simple tips presented early in the book illuminate useful methods that Google.com itself should do a better job promoting. Google's special syntaxes are a prime example. Want to find John Doe in Mira Mesa? Enter "rphonebook: John Doe 92126" in google's text box. The rphonebook: tells google to look in the residential phone book. 92126 is the zip code for Mira Mesa. The site syntax is very useful. To quickly find the mirror sites for redhat, use "site:redhat.com mirrors". There are many more special syntaxes that use the colon character
Some of the hacks are for amusement only. One must be in the right mood to properly appreciate the "Google Mirror" hack (#91) or the "The No-Result Search" (#86).
The neighborhood hack (#65) may be the most ambitious in the book. It consists of about five pages of Python code. It collects all the sites that link to a given site, then within the collection determines how many times each site is referred to by one of the others. The hack was written by Mark Pilgrim, who has also published a free Python book. You can try the hack yourself at diveintomark.org, where you'll also find a link to Mark's excellent book.
How quickly will "Google Hacks" become dated? Certainly the web itself is growing exponentially. There can be no doubt that Google will change and grow as well. However, I suspect that the majority of principles exposited will continue to work and be relevant for years to come.
"Google Hacks" came out in Februray 2003; it is mid July as I write this review. Given the length of the publishing pipeline and the rate at which things change on the web, I expected significant portions of the book to be out of date. This was not the case. I only found a couple of urls that had changed as well as a single typographical error. The folks at O'Reilly must have gone over the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb!
Acknowledgment: The review copy of the book was donated by O'Reilly to the Kernel Panic Linux Users Group.
My favorite section of this book was on accessing the Google web API. Basically, this API allows you to integrate Google searches directly into your application via a web service. In addition to discussing the API, actual program examples are provided in Perl, Java, C#, Python, and VB.NET. For example, you could integrate Google's dictionary directly into Microsoft Word to provide a more comprehensive dictionary than is provided.
Another really cool example provided integrates the Google and Amazon.com's API. In this example, the author shows how these APIs are integrated to show a list of "most popular" books, followed by recent news articles on the books and a list of items that people bought who also purchased the book in question. It's pretty cool and quite impressive.
The book ends with a section dedicated to the web master. This section goes over a good guess for the mathematical equation used in Google's mysterious page algorithm, and describes what you can do to increase your visibility on Google. The book even includes a list of "thou shalt not", which can keep your site from being indexed by Google.
While there is much to like about the book, there is also much to ignore. I think at times, the authors emulate the writing style of programming books too closely. That's a problem for all the non-technical people who likely bought the book. As it stands now, the book seems terribly unfocused. Still the authors do an admirable job of trying to tie everything together for their unique audiences.
As a developer, I found the "Google API hacks" to be useful, but the vast majority of the readers probably will not. And the programming tips take up almost half the book.
This is not the only reason I gave Google Hacks three stars. In addition to the problem with focus, the section for webmasters is laughable. Brett Tabke of WembasterWorld, a supposed search engine marketing expert, contributes several of the webmaster "hacks." His sections are perhaps the weakest parts of the book. He tries to explain how to make sure your site ranks highly in Google's search results, but his advice should be ignored.
He makes all sorts of proclamations that have no basis in reality; most of his tips are simply his own personal opinion masquerading as fact. It would be nice if he were to cite his sources, but unfortunately for us readers, he does not.
On the other hand, the guest section written by Andrew Goodman about Google AdWords tips is top-notch and reason enough for buying the book.
All in all, if you're remotely interested in Google, definitely buy this book. But be forewarned about the lackluster guest authors and lack of focus. Who knows? Maybe version two will be better. Keep in mind, also, that this is a book about the Web, so many of the tips contained in the book may be obsolete by the time you read it!
But with that comes the problem with publishing this kind of information in book only format - this list is bound to be out-of-date by the time it reaches the reader. For example, it doesn't mention Google Alert, which has been around since January and must be the most useful Google Web APIs application developed so far (it sends you updates when there are new results for your search).
Overall though, if you are a serious web surfer, Google fan, or are thinking of incorporating some kind of Google features into your site, this is a must read. Let's hope a second edition appears soon!
The book demonstrates 100 hacks, of which close to half are useful for everyone -- newbie, programmer and non-programmer alike. The first 35 hacks, in chapters one and two, will educate you about the intricacies of getting the best out of searching both Google's main web catalog and the newer `Special Services and Collections.' This is the part of the book that should be essential reading for Google users -- in the two days I've had this book these have proved invaluable. The rest are for those who are either looking for extremely advanced search tips, increasing their web site's Google page rank, or programming an application to use the Google data -- all topics well covered in this volume.
What's Good In This Book
To start, it is well written, well laid out with a good contents section, good index, and some appropriate introductory material before getting down to the first hack. Each of the hacks are numbered and a single hack will often cross-reference other hacks that add information relevant to it. The hacks in each chapter nicely add on each other in both complexity and function.
The hacks themselves seem to cover every area of Google that you might want. They range from the downright frivolous (there is a chapter "Google Pranks and Games") to serious ways of improving your search results and excellent examples of good ways to use the Google API.
Most of the code fragments are in Perl, and among the hacks are ways of getting the job done without over extensive use of extra modules such as XML Parsers and SOAP::Lite (including a hack that uses regular expressions to parse the XML).
What's Bad In This Book
It's hard to find anything bad to say, apart from some frustration that a couple of the hacks that interested me used ASP or VB rather than a more portable language.
Oh, another minor quibble, the allied web site O'Reilly Hacks Series has been slow and has none of the code in the book or any of the URLs mentioned listed anywhere -- it seems more geared towards marketing the books than helping the readers.
I like the new Hacks series of books from O'Reilly. Each title in this series gives the reader 100 tips and tools on the topic at hand. Each tip includes a brief description of the hack and a complexity rating. In Google Hacks the authors give each tip a complete walk through, with many including a full code listing.
The two chapters on Third-Party and Non-API google introduces the reader to new ways to get at google data that many users may not have thought of before. Hack 37 is an explanation of how to get google web searches via email. There are six hacks that if used and abused will get your IP address banned from google, so use at your own risk.
The chapters on the google API make up the meat of the book. The API is used to offer ideas to show the reader what is possible with the API. For those that are more visually minded, hack #64 is about the TouchGraph Google Browser. TouchGraph is a Java applet allows the user to start with a page and then it graphically shows pages that are similar to it. For the non-perl inclined, hacks are included, with full source code, for Python, Java, C#, and PHP.
Anyone who programs web applications and manages websites needs to get this book, if only for the final eight hacks in the book. One hack (#95) delves into the PageRank algorithm that google uses to rank web pages. Hack 96, 26 Step to 15K hits a day, should be required reading for anyone wanting to start a web site and have it take off.
At [the price], this book is a great buy. It doesn't suffer from any glaring editing problems, and is very useful to anyone using google.com.
by Jocelyn Paine
My brain seems to turn off when I'm exposed to the advanced terminology, much less faced with wading through the web. I've not been as intimidated by the search engine Google, though, because it seems to facilitate exploring the millions (billions?) of choices now available on the World Wide Web. I've always felt I'm not utilizing it enough. So I was very glad to see "Google Hacks, 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools," by Tara Calishain & Rael Dornfest, published by O'Reilly & Associates ... Only recently did I learn that `google' is a pun on the mathematical term: googol, a one followed by a hundred zeros. There isn't anything that large in the universe, so it is a mythical term, but it aptly symbolizes the magnitude of information available on the Web.
I believe that all good reference books have extensive Indexes. The one for "Google Hacks" leads me to a whole new world of Google. I find out that there's something called Google API that users like me access, but for the brave of heart and reliable of fingers there's code available for `scraping' beyond the surface of the usual pages. Whew! This is way above my head, but I'm fascinated by the possibilities. The authors also responsibly define what is and what is not allowable according to Google's terms of agreement and what can lead to being banned from Google! A handy thermometer reference classifies each hack into beginner, moderate and expert categories.
Just leafing through the table of contents makes it clear to me that there is lots I don't use in Google. I liked the arrangement of the book, very much like a `Dummies' reference book. The writing is very clear, non technical and well explained, with step-by-step guidelines, and clever and humerous to boot. A lot of the book is devoted to actually creating a page for Google, which I have no aspirations to do, but who knows what's in my future? Highly recommended for the novice, like me, or the advanced computer geek. Now we don't know any of those, do we?
"Hacks" in the title is a misnomer. There's a section of cool hacks outside the Google API, but most of the book is simply a manual to Google. I don't see using built in features as "hacking" (which is a positive term, "cracking" is the term for what pop culture calls hacking).
The book is definitely readable from beginning to end, but would be most useful as a reference for a specific task than a general guide.
All the information in the book is correct, and it's fairly entertaining reading for a book about a search engine. There is a ton of useful information for most average computer users - things that can help you find what you're looking for, faster, easier, less hassle, more fun. Google is indeed much more than "just" a search engine. This would be excellent for people who use the web a lot for anything, but especially researchers.
My problem is that it seems to be marketed toward the computer professional, someone with at least a little programming experience. Smart move, how many others are going to buy a book about a search engine? The reviews I read raved at how useful it was to them, as programmers. However, I found most of the book to be either stuff I already knew, stuff that you could easily find in online help, or things that aren't very useful.
I still did get a few things out of it. I didn't know about the phone book lookups, newsgroup archives, and there is some good stuff for webmasters at the end. A lot of the scripts and script ideas are somewhat interesting, but do not seem generally useful.
Of course, I didn't know all the syntax and a bunch of other details, but this stuff is available easily by clicking the help button. The first few chapters are generally and widely useful. The games are interesting, I guess. For a lot of the stuff in the middle and the end, some programming experience is very useful. People who have this experience don't need the beginning. But the people who need the beginning probably can't do much with the rest, though it is still readable and interesting.
Overall, if you are interested enough to be reading reviews about it, I would probably recommend buying it, but not for tech-types who already know Google pretty well. Still, I can't really imagine someone for whom large parts of this book would be either not useful or not relevant. For occasional search engine users it would be extremely helpful, but how many from this group are going to sit down with a book about a search engine?
O'Reilly, the publisher, produces excellent books on all kinds of tech topics, and this is the first I've been disappointed with. Several of their books are considered the definitive resource on their topics, and served as my guides to learning Unix and different programming languages. I would not have bought this book if it wasn't from them.
For those of us who admire the art of the carefully crafted query, it gives the syntax for things I thought weren't possible. Who knew you could enter a phone number and get who it is listed under or search for the same keyword twice for different results?
The first three chapters (Searching Google, Google Special Services and Collections, and Third-Party Google Services) are targeted at the end user. They present a wealth of detail about how to access Google features most users didn't know about (myself included): wild cards, date range searches, spell checking, phone book, translations, and more. You'll learn Google has special directories of images, newsgroups, and mail-order catalogs. (I made sure to NOT tell my wife about the on-line catalog feature!)
The balance of the book is for web site programmers. They get plenty of tips and tricks about how to incorporate Google search technology into their web sites. While many of the tips are not for novice web programmers, most intermediate webmasters can spruce up their sites with the tools presented in Google Hacks.
The production quality is typical O'Reilly, and that means good! Clear screen shots, and crisp dark type make this read easy on the eyes.
If you want to learn how to exploit Google searching, or want to add Google search features to your web site, Google Hacks 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools is a good place to begin the learning process.
MacMice Rating: 5 out of 5
40 Not just for programmersI first got a copy of the book thinking it was an end-to-end collection of code snippets on using the Google API to write custom apps to access Google's massive data store, but it's so much more than that. The book is wholly a collection of 100 quick-reading tips and tricks on using Google, but not exclusively from a coder's point of view. For that reason, it's very flexible to a wide audience. It's subdivided into distinct sections that focus on using the various services and features offered by Google, such as time-saving query syntax, to customized programming with the Google API, to off-the-wall tricks.
The book also gives great examples of performing searches that have little-to-no documentation from Google, such as doing lookups for stock symbols or phone numbers. The authors also do a great job of highlighting several utilities and apps built within and outside of the scope of the Google Terms of Service agreement to access its data. The games are quirky, but cool. You're unquestionably going to find something in the title's pages you'll find neat and want to replicate/morph for your own use.
It may tend to disappoint codeheads who buy it just for syntax and rippable code samples for using the Google API, but it does more than make up for it in being a reference for getting the most out of what's undoubtedly the world's most popular search engine.
The only criticism I have is that the book was very top-heavy in examples written in Perl, so it's more applicable to that crowd, especially given that the book's back cover advertised examples in .NET, Java, Python, and PHP. (There was ONE example for each of the aforementioned languages and platforms in the chapter on programming against the Google API). However, my fellow .NET developers can surely use the Perl .NET or if you're up for a good challenge, cross-translate the Perl syntax into the equivalent of your favorite .NET language.
But outside of that, the book's great. It's quick, fun, organized and won't force you to give up a couple nights to get through it. And it not being solely a programmer's book, it's also applicable for others in your school, office and household. I've let several people read it - namely a teacher, a couple of students, and some Web surfers - and they all enjoyed it thoroughly. You read what you need to read, and get on with your life.
And at US$...it's a steal.
Google Hacks is another in O'Reilly's Hacks series, "Industrial Strength Tips and Tools". In this case, 100 recipes for just about every imaginable use for Google. O'Reilly uses the term 'hack' in a positive way, meaning a clever technical feat or trick, as opposed to the negative connotation associated with those blackhats who break into computer systems for fun and for profit. Each "hack" is a stand-alone recipe demonstrating some aspect of using Google to find just what you're looking for. Most hacks also contain cross-references to other relevant hacks in the book, so you really don't have to read it from cover to cover. You could start with whatever interests you, and go from there.
The book is divided into several chapters, each of which contains several hacks. The first few chapters are targeted at the general end-user, describing in detail all of the various syntaxes you can use when searching with Google, as well as introducing the various topical collections (U.S. government, Linux, Mac, etc.), and other tools (Google Groups, Google News, etc.,) available. The authors are careful to point out where the various syntax pieces are incompatible, and which syntax features are available with which services. Also covered are various tools you can use to (legally) 'scrape' Google search results for further analysis. These chapters will be useful for just about anyone who uses Google. Some of the material (such as directly manipulating URLS to tweak search results and custom HTML forms) may be beyond the reach of some newbies. A general understanding of URLs, HTML and CGI scripting will be helpful in making use of most of the book.
The next few chapters are targeted more to developers and propeller-heads, describing the Google Web Service API, as well as providing dozens of scripts (mostly in Perl) for manipulating Google's index via its XML interface. Newbies and the casual user might find all this a bit overwhelming, but anyone with a Perl interpreter could potentially use these scripts to their advantage. One chapter also provides examples of using the API in various other languages including PHP, Java, Python, C#/.NET, and VB.NET. There are enough examples here of using the API in various fashions to get anyone with a sense of programming plenty of starting off points for whatever project they may imagine with Google's wealth of information.
The next to last chapter involves a handful of pranks, games, other oddities you can do with Google. Fool your friends with 0-result searches, let Google write poetry or a recipe for you. Draw pictures with Google Groups, or see just how good you are at Google-Whacking. This is the chapter for all of you who have way too much time on your hands ;-).
The last chapter in the book is targeted towards webmasters and offers several tips not only on getting your website well-placed in Google's search rankings, but also general help on getting traffic to your site in the first place. The authors also discuss strategies for using Google's AdWords system to the advantage of your business.
Overall, the book is very readable, and easy to move through (well, for a geek anyways). Each hack is self-contained, and can be read in a few minutes. Read it near your computer, as you'll likely be wanting to try some of these hacks out as you read them. As for its usefulness, I'm already using things I learned in the book on a regular basis to my daily advantage. However, if you're not more than a casual user of Google, all the scripts and API-speak might be overkill for your needs. The first few and last chapters probably justify the Amazon price for most users, however.
The book isn't perfect, though. I did find a few typographical errors scattered through the text, but they weren't prevalent enough to be too distracting. Also, with coverage of such a moving target as a major Internet property like Google, there will likely be links and even certain hacks that may not work, and features that change with time. Finally, the idea of narrowing down your search results to a manageable number surfaces often. In my opinion, what's important is not so much how many search results are found, but rather, whether or not Google can get me what I'm looking for within the first page or two of results, which it usually does, and which is why I use Google in the first place. The real value of the book shows itself on those occasions where Google doesn't necessarily get you where you want to be on the first shot.
In summary, true to its cover graphic, Google Hacks will provide you with a large number of tools to get the most out of Google, whether for serious research, casual browsing, procrastination activities, or just plain old fun.
The authors have put the usual excellent and thorough job into this book that I've known to love and appreciate about all O'Reilly books. Not only do they take the time to thoroughly explain Google and topics related to Google, they also with a number of hacks show code examples, making it easy to implement them.
Hacks (and hackers, not crackers) in recent times have gotten a bad name as another reviewer pointed out. The 100 hacks this book lists are ones that are of benefit to all who use Google as their primary search engine.
If this is what you expect the newly released O'Reilly book Google Hacks to be about, well, I am afraid that you need to mosey on over to the fiction section. This book is a collection of tips, trips, workaround and "not-so-secret" techniques that you can use to enrich your Google experience.
Now, I know what most of you are saying -- it's JUST a search engine. I type in what I want to find and see what it spits out. If this is your attitude about Google, then this book is one of the must have's you should add to your library. You will never think of Google as "just a search engine" again.
Through step-by-step examples, and visual examples, the author takes you through how to use Google to its full extent. He shows you how to narrow searches and get those 2,500,000 results page down to something more manageable and more relevant to you. In essence, he shows you how to make Google work for your benefit.
There is also considerable coverage given to third-party Google tools and toys -- such as Google Whacking, Google Blogging and many others. He shows you how others have taken what Google provides and expanded upon it to make games, research tools and interactive applications. You will find yourself immersed in the world of Google Whacking -- the search for the magic combination of search words that give you one, precise result!
This book is geared towards those who use Google for searching and research purposes as well as those who want to incorporate Google's tools into their own sites. The author goes into detail about the newly released Google API for incorporating content into your site and other programs. Novice users should not be afraid of the technical complexity this book has in some places; they can simply skip over the more technical parts without fear of missing out on the important details.
Overall, this is the perfect companion book for those who find themselves using Google as their main research tool. It will help you become a better Google user, and help you to use the power of Google to further your research along and give you the precise information you need.
To those who know nothing about programming/scripting, fear not. About half of this book is stuff that anyone anywhere can use with no programming skills whatsoever. And if the hacks described in the other half of the book sound useful, sufficiently-motivated people will find a way to use them: talk to their technical friends, their children, or (heaven forbid!) teach themselves how to use Perl/Python/etc. And even that's kind of missing the point: the book is about giving you a taste of what is possible to do with Google. You will get an education simply by leafing through the examples.
How do the authors get so good? Clearly, they're smart folk. But they have a much more important quality: a sense of adventure and, at times, a giddy quality of fun in what they do. Chapter 7 -- Google Pranks and Games -- is as good a place to start reading this book as any. And a non-technical person who reads and tries the examples in Chapter 1 will have a far better working knowledge of google than 99.5% of the technical types out there. Finally, Chapter 8 is an excellent intro to webmasters to understand how google picks which pages rank higher for any particular search. It gives valuable advice on how to get a good rank for your website. This book should be a good antidote for small-time operators who are currently getting hustled by "rank booster" con artists and other snake-oil salesmen.
One side comment: hacking is a good thing. In the past two decades, the word has been co-opted to mean a dubious or possibly-illegal activity. Nonsense. Hacking is a most honorable activity; it's part of what makes the world works. Kudos to O'Reilly for starting their "Hacks" book series.
Google is an Internet search engine database, but it's far more than that. It's existence has begun to shape the very fabric of the Internet. Anyone wishing to be literate on the Internet would be wise to understand quite a bit about it.
I'm buying a copy of this book for my mother tonight.
FORTUNE PROVIDES QUESTIONS FOR THE GREAT ANSWERS: #4
A: Go west, young man, go west!
Q: What do wabbits do when they get tiwed of wunning awound?
Coincidences are spiritual puns.
-- G.K. Chesterton
